Van Outen slams ‘sugary’ presenters

Denise Van Outen has lamented the decline of the ladette on TV – saying “sugary” prime time presenters nowadays “just read the autocue and smile”.

The 36-year-old new mum said that television was missing an “edge” and that hosts like Zoe Ball and Sara Cox who were labelled ladettes in the 1990s were “just opinionated women”.

Denise Van Outen prepares TV presenters with an edge

Denise is undertaking a presenting stint for Channel 4 with friend Melanie Sykes , 39, on The 5 O’Clock Show. The actress and TV presenter has settled down with her West End star husband Lee Mead and the couple have a two-month-old daughter named Betsy.

In an interview with the TV Times, the former Big Breakfast presenter praised her co-host Mel as having “no facade”. Denise told the magazine: “She just says it how it is and I like that, because I hate women who pretend to be sweet and actually you know there’s a dark side.”

Den continued: “She’s upfront and she’s genuine, whereas you get a lot of women in television who seem so nice and then you think they can’t be that perfect, it’s not possible.

“That’s why Mel’s really good on TV and I think we’re missing that now – there’s no edge.

“When we were presenting years ago on The Big Breakfast, the presenters were all very real.

“You had Zoe Ball and Sara Cox and we just said it how it is… We got labelled ‘ladettes,’ but we were just opinionated women.

“Suddenly there’s this whole turn, especially on prime time TV – you have to be sugary and just read the autocue and smile.”